McCain's schedule - Travel to the states we've given up on
Today, McCain travels to New Hampshire the day after his campaign admits they're basically pulling ads there.
Next week, McCain travels to Colo, a couple days after his campaign says they've given up on Colo, and cut ad spending there.
McCain plans to spend two days part of Saturday and Sunday in Iowa, shortly after his campaign said they can't win Iowa.
Less than two weeks left, and they're wasting (at least) the four days listed above. What the hell are they doing?
Next week, McCain travels to Colo, a couple days after his campaign says they've given up on Colo, and cut ad spending there.
McCain plans to spend two days part of Saturday and Sunday in Iowa, shortly after his campaign said they can't win Iowa.
Less than two weeks left, and they're wasting (at least) the four days listed above. What the hell are they doing?
posted by mikevotes at
7:26 AM
10 Comments:
I know I sound like a broken record, but perhaps they know something....they have something planned and want to tighten up the race in marginal areas before the big event... whatever that event may be.
Next week, probably Thursday.
Stay tuned.
By
Praguetwin, at 7:45 AM
Plausible, but they don't seem to be sending out any signals like that.
As much as the McCain folks are talking off the record about strategy (a sign of a stressed campaign) you would think that at least one of them would have given some sort of hint that something was coming.
The body language of the candidate and the top staff don't seem to show me that something like that is in the works, you know?
I could be wrong, but I'm not seeing that kind of confidence that they have something in their pocket.
By
mikevotes, at 7:54 AM
While an October Surprise is always possible, I don't know if it's probable. I can't even image what could help McCain so dramatically in these final days. The "erratic" and "stunt" labels have already been taken up by the media, so anything new would be seen in that light. And anything catastrophic -- terror attack? -- used for political gain would almost certainly result in a near American civil war... or at least turmoil.
And why spend time in these clearly increasingly long shot states? On the premise that your pre-loading for a stunt? I don't see it.
I see two possibilities. One is that McCain and the RNC are trying to shore up the down-ticket candidates. Or -- more likely -- there is a major fracture of the McCain campaign in the end game. McCain wanting to fight on -- never give up, never surrender. And the belt way contractors wanting to work a different strategy. There's McCain.... and there's the McCain Campaign. And there's the Palin campaing too.
In short, I think the wheels have come of the bus and it's every faction for him- (or her-) self.
By
-epm, at 8:03 AM
To your possibilities I would also ad that maybe they'd scheduled these events before the states slid out from under them and lacked the (whatever) to change the appearances. That would be news that would make the states impossible.
...
As to the downticket argument, he's not helping anyone in Colo (That Senate seat's gone) or Iowa.
In NH, you have a better sense of whether he or Palin are helping Sununu.
...
Plus, thinking about it a little more, if "preloading" were the plan, I'd think he'd be working in bigger states. More bang for the buck.
By
mikevotes, at 8:26 AM
Good points all. (Events already scheduled... no down-ticket to actually help).
NH digs McCain c. 2000. Less love for McCain c. Oct 2008. And while we have a vein of christianist types, NH really isn't Palin country. We're not Appalachia or the South. Generally speaking, Palin is a put off here.
Sununu is doing better in the polls than I thought he would, but Shaheen is has come out with some fresh, possitive ads this week. I think they're more effective than Sununu's RNC ads, complete with male baritone voiceover dripping with contempt and disgust.
Sununu, like most Republicans, is running as a "Repbulican." In fact in one of his campaign funded ads he signs off with "I'm John Sununu, candidate for Senate, and I approve this message." You'd think he was the challenger! So I think the RNC and/or RSCC ads might be working against him because they're expressly from the REPUBLICAN party.
By
-epm, at 9:05 AM
I don't have any sense of your Senate race. Last time I checked (a week ago) the CW seemed to be that Sununu had the commanding position.
(And even down here in Texas, they're minimizing Republican in their advertising.)
By
mikevotes, at 10:56 AM
Screwed up a line in my comment... Should have been "Sununu is NOT running as a Republican"
By
-epm, at 11:08 AM
I got it. I figured.
By
mikevotes, at 11:21 AM
Good point on the body language. However, I still believe they have one last surprise in mind.
We will see....
By
Praguetwin, at 5:43 PM
Yeah. The problem is they have no credibility left in their charges, and the narrative has moved to process and horserace, so, it probably has to be a bombshell, or badly mishandled, to break through.
By
mikevotes, at 6:11 PM
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